The present invention relates to an animal carcass injection system for injecting a gas under pressure between muscle and bone of an animal carcass in order to separate the muscle from the bone.
In meat processing plants in which animal carcasses are boned, muscle is separated from bone within the animal carcass by opening the hide and then stripping the muscle away from the bone with knives and saws. As may be appreciated, conventional boning processes are both time consuming and expensive. In an attempt to improve the conventional boning process, the prior art has provided animal carcass injection systems to inject a pressurized gas between the muscle and bone of the animal carcass. The pressurized gas acts to separate the muscle from the bone by ballooning the muscle away from the bone along a natural seam of the animal carcass.
Such prior art carcass injection systems incorporate a hollow needle to effectuate the injection of the pressurized gas between the muscle and bone. In practice, the animal hide is punctured by the needle and thereafter, the needle is operatively extended through the natural seam of the animal carcass to a position against or near the bone. The needle is held by a blow gun with a nozzle extension having a lever operated valve, which when opened by the lever, permits pressurized gas to enter the needle for injection between the muscle and bone.
A major problem associated with prior art animal carcass injection systems is that the use of high pressure air presents a danger to those using such systems. As may be appreciated, an accidental escape of high pressure gas from a sharp needle either near or against the human body can cause injury or death.
Another problem concerns the source and type of pressurized gas used in the prior art. Such pressurized gas can be pressurized air supplied by a shop air system. The use of shop air presents a problem because there is no practical manner to assure its cleanliness. In fact, shop air can contain air borne bacteria or contaminated particulate matter that can be injected into the animal carcass by injection of the shop air.
The present invention provides a carcass injection system that incorporates a needle having a safety feature to lessen the possibility of injury to workers from an accidental escape of pressurized gas from the sharp end of the needle. In addition, the animal carcass injection system is particularly well suited for use with pressurized carbon dioxide suppled by a carbon dioxide refrigerant system. The use of such pressurized carbon dioxide helps eliminate the contamination problems associated with the use of shop air because it is supplied below freezing temperatures and the carbon dioxide refrigerant system is a closed system.